Baseball: Waubonsie Valley takes advantage of DeKalb mistakes for series-clinching triumph

DeKALB – Waubonsie Valley made the most of the few scoring opportunities it had against DeKalb in the teams’ DuPage Valley Conference series finale Thursday.

The Warriors scored two runs without putting the ball in play in the 3-2 win over the Barbs. With the victory, Waubonsie Valley won the series 2-1 and denied DeKalb a share of first place.

The starting pitchers scored or batted in four of the five total runs.

“I’m not happy about it at all,” DeKalb coach Joshua Latimer said about the game. “I feel we had this series. I feel that we played well enough to take this series except for about one inning today. We gave them two, and they earned one.”

“Both pitchers threw outstanding today,” Waubonsie Valley coach Byran Acevedo said. “We just took advantage of some base runners that they gave us.”

In the first inning, DeKalb starting pitcher Brodie Farrell loaded the bases on three walks. During Sean Carroll’s at-bat, Farrell was called for a balk that brought home leadoff man Ryan Gustaitis.

After Farrell struck out Carroll to end the inning, he settled down and cruised through the next three frames, giving up only one hit and striking out six.

Connor Beren opened the top of the fifth for the Warriors (12-8, 6-3 DVC) with a double up the middle. The junior scored two batters later on Waubonsie Valley starting pitcher Owen Roberts’ two-bagger down the left field line. After back-to-back walks, Roberts crossed the plate on a wild pitch during Hiroshy Wong’s at-bat.

“It was tough. You go out there and walk three guys in the first inning and then a balk. You’re giving them a free run,” Latimer said. “And then you give them a free run on a passed ball, trying to overthrow a pitch. That’s frustrating.”

Farrell put DeKalb (14-8, 5-4) on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Leadoff man Nik Nelson was safe at first after his grounder to the Waubonsie Valley shortstop took a bad hop. Cole Latimer followed with a potential double-play grounder to the right side of the infield. Nelson was forced at second, but Latimer beat the throw to first.

Farrell was the next batter. The right-hander belted a 3-0 pitch over the left field fence for a two-run homer.

“I usually hunt fastball, but I saw his curveball well,” Farrell said. “He threw it up, and I hit it.”

DeKalb could not capitalize on its opportunities. The Barbs left runners in scoring position in four innings.

Farrell pitched five innings, striking out nine batters and allowing only three hits. Hunter Kriese was on the hill for the last two innings.

Roberts was equally formidable on the mound, also striking out nine and giving up four hits. Jack Ager’s second-inning triple to center field was the only other extra-base hit for the Barbs.

“Looking back on previous outings, I wasn’t getting ahead as fast as I wanted to,” Roberts said. “But today I was getting ahead with my curveball.”